Understanding lower back pain and what you can do about it

If you've ever had back pain, you know how terrible it can be. Back pain may practically halt you in your tracks. Back pain is highly common, with one in six Australians reporting a back problem at some point, and four out of five individuals having lower back pain at some point in their lives. 

In this article, we explain what back pain is, common causes, and how you may treat it.

What is back pain?

So what is back pain?

Back discomfort can present as pain, stiffness, or soreness in the lower back. Perhaps there is a sharp pain, a muscular soreness, or a spasm.

Now there are many different symptoms. You may have back discomfort, stiffness, or difficulty turning or bending in certain directions. Sciatica is a disorder that causes pain to spread down one or both of your legs and is caused by a nerve impingement in the lower back.

What’s causing your lower back pain?

But before we can figure out what's causing your lower back pain, we need to know how your back is built. 

Your spine is made up of 24 vertebrae, which are small bones stacked vertically on top of each other. In between the bones are soft discs that act as shock absorbers and give your spine flexibility. All of this is held together by a facet joint, which is made up of ligaments and fashion muscles. 

Things can go wrong if you have a problem in any of these areas or if you have bad posture or an injury.

In general, back pain can be caused by heavy lifting, bending or turning the wrong way a lot, not using your abs enough, sitting for too long, not being active enough, or being overweight.

Back pain treatments

How do you treat lower back pain? There are a few things you can do to help ease back pain, and your doctor or manual therapist will be able to give you their skilled opinion on the best way to diagnose and treat your condition.

Being busy is a great way to keep your back healthy. Getting regular exercise or work that lets your back move naturally is a great way to help lower back pain go away faster.

Physiotherapy can help with back discomfort by providing massage, soft tissue therapy, and exercises to keep your back moving.

Chiropractors are also helpful for treating back pain and are actually most known for helping low back pain. Chiropractors provide hands-on care through chiropractic adjustments. A chiropractic adjustment aims to rectify alignment in your spine and create movement on fixed, locked joints. Chiropractors attempt to relieve sensations of discomfort, promote flexibility and movement, and expand joint range of motion

Exercise is another fantastic technique to relieve back pains. Activities such as walking, aqua aerobics, exercising in the pool, swimming and stretching is a fantastic place to start. Other popular exercise therapies for back pain include yoga, Pilates and cycling.

In some circumstances, pain management drugs may be employed, but they will not treat the underlying cause of many occurrences of back pain. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medicines can provide short-term relief for low back pain, but there may be significant negative effects associated with the continuous use of these treatments. 

Research also reveals that strong pain medicine, such as anti-inflammatory drugs, can provide little benefits in terms of addressing the cause of back pain, but can considerably create adverse effects such as drowsiness, sedation, or dependence concerns.

Backing up

The good news is that when it comes to treating back pain for cases of non-specific lower back pain, they tend to improve quite quickly, sometimes a matter of weeks is all that's needed to get improvements.

However, for some patients, they may have ongoing problems, they may have had back pain for longer periods of time, or their particular case may require specific treatment.

If you experience lower back pain, why not give your local chiropractic clinic a call to see how they may be able to help you. Your back will thank you.

Author: Dr. Jae Yoon Lee (Chiropractor) is a local chiropractor based in Ormeau, Queensland. Jae offers you 10+ years of experience, is a Gonstead Chiropractor and is a member of the Australian Chiropractors Association and the Gonstead Chiropractic Society Australia. He proudly services Brisbane, the Gold Coast and surrounds.